Commentaire sur L’Exode 21:26

את עין עבדו [AND IF A MAN SMITE] THE EYE OF HIS SERVANT — of a Canaanitish servant; but the Hebrew servant does not got free on account of his tooth or his eye having been knocked out by his master, as we have stated in our comment on the passage לא תצא כצאת העבדים (v. 7).

וכי יכה איש את עין עבדו, If a man smite the eye of his slave, etc. In Kidushin 24 Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel and the other rabbis disagree on the meaning of this verse. Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel holds that the legislation contained in this verse applies only when the master has destroyed the eye of his slave deliberately; the other rabbis hold that even if he had not done so deliberately but had merely aimed his blow at the eye, the slave goes free. According to the rabbis, why did the Torah not begin the verse by writing: "whenever a master destroys the eye of his slave," instead of writing "when he strikes the eye of his slave and he destroys it?" Perhaps the Torah did not use this expression as I would have interpreted it as applying to the eye regardless of the intent which has to accompany such a destruction of the eye.

תחת עינו, if the victim was a gentile slave.